Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) Crashes 35% as Traders Cash In on Airdrop

PENGU, the new token from the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, officially launched today with an airdrop to eligible holders. Despite the initial excitement, the token’s price took a sharp 35% dive shortly after going live.

In just the first hour of trading, PENGU saw a staggering $474 million in volume. Here’s what you need to know about the launch, exchange listings, and how the market is reacting.

PENGU Launch Faces Heavy Selling Pressure  

A few weeks ago, the Pudgy Penguins team teased the launch of a token, leaving the community speculating on the timeline. Yesterday, December 16, Binance confirmed it would list PENGU for spot trading today, sparking excitement across the crypto space.  

PENGU launched with a total supply of 88.88 billion tokens. Out of this, 25.9% was allocated to the Pudgy Penguins NFT community, while 22% went to Solana and Ethereum communities. The project team received 17%, locked for a one-year cliff and a three-year vesting period. Another 12.35% was set aside for liquidity pools.  

Despite the hype, PENGU’s market cap dropped from $4.32 billion to $3.07 billion in just hours. The token’s price fell from $0.068 to $0.043, likely due to heavy selling pressure from airdrop recipients. According to Nansen, the sell volume far exceeds the buy volume. If this trend continues, PENGU’s price could drop even lower.  

Pudgy Penguins NFT Prices Also Take a Hit  

Before the PENGU token launch, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs hit an all-time high of 34.80 ETH, valued at over $100,000. This put the collection among the most valuable in the NFT space.  

However, in the last 24 hours, the floor price has dropped by 43.60%, now trading at 18.50 ETH. This sharp decline mirrors the token’s performance, suggesting broader market sentiment around the project has shifted.